


Cheerful Maternal Conspiracy

by Morvidra



Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1, Don't copy to another site, F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 10:39:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18119156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morvidra/pseuds/Morvidra
Summary: "... exhibiting all the air of some secret sisterhood revealed."--A Civil Campaign





	Cheerful Maternal Conspiracy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kalirush](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kalirush/gifts).



[](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOEZ_UFewI6NB4tLPhvzmXEfN8Gy531mi2T-XTwmnxdyNJXoBsaVxOdLfHSMnGXpA?key=RGtnUWIxV2Y5VUpkQTNWczB4NzFZRnItRW1vTWJn&source=ctrlq.org)

“I wish I’d known all of this before,” Cordelia gloomed. “Miles never really tells us anything much about his love life.” She thought, as she had often thought before, that the entire situation would have been handled so much better on Beta Colony. 

The Professora – Helen, Cordelia reminded herself – cleared her throat. “Well, if you required the basic outline, I was most privileged to be an auditor to a fascinating conversation between my niece and Lord Vorkosigan on Komarr. That is auditor in the classical sense, rather than the Barrayaran,” she added in an academic aside.

Cordelia nodded understanding of this point. “What was the conversation about?” she inquired with some interest.

“It was perhaps more of a confession than a conversation,” Helen mused. “The confession of sins in the hope of absolution, perhaps. Although… they were honest statements of fact rather than any sense of having done wrong, so perhaps confession is not the right word either.” She sipped her tea. “In any case, following an inquiry from my niece, your son listed off what I believe was the complete lifetime list of his fancies and dalliances.”

Cordelia blinked. “That… sounds most unlike Miles. Goodness.” Her lips were quirking upwards involuntarily at the thought of the conversation. “I believe I’ve heard of most of the list – although admittedly mostly through ImpSec reports, rather than Miles’ messages. But may I ask… what did your niece think of this outburst of truth?”

It was Helen’s turn to smile – one might almost call it a smirk, Cordelia thought. “She asked if she might take a number and get in line.”

Cordelia had just taken a sip of her own tea. There followed a long pause, during which she was desperately trying not to snort it out her nose, nor to spit it out over the tea table.

“I see,” she said faintly when she had at last managed to swallow the mouthful without disgracing herself. “Your niece sounds like a very interesting young woman,” she added with complete sincerity.

“I am, of course, biased on the topic,” Helen said complacently. “But I agree with you.”

“Do you think… that is… does she reciprocate Miles’ interest?”

Helen spread her hands, indicating the difficulty of answering. “I am inclined to think that she does, perhaps. Although to what extent, I cannot really say.”

Cordelia sighed. “And of course, my own dear idiot son has just shot his chances in the foot.”

“I wouldn’t be too certain of that,” Helen said with a faint smile. “He certainly… mis-stepped, but I think not irretrievably. I did notice that, even at her angriest, Ekaterin didn’t actually tell him she _wouldn’t_ marry him.”

“Ahhh,” Cordelia breathed. “Oh yes, there’s hope for them yet.” 

“Quite.” Helen drained her teacup. “After all, in my own younger days, that was the first thing I would have said to send off an unwanted suitor.” Her eyes twinkled. “Further rejections being accompanied by a hatpin stuck where it would do the most good, you understand.”

Cordelia lifted her own teacup in a silent toast. “Then, in this matter, let us also be ready to stick our metaphorical hatpins in where they will do the most good.”

“Quite so,” Helen agreed. “After all, we can hardly make matters _worse_.”

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Purimgifts!
> 
> Image by [Ron Porter](https://pixabay.com/users/RonPorter-291009/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2516257) from [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=2516257)


End file.
